Since I recently moved to Austin, Texas, I’m meeting new people and finding myself in the position of trying to explain very simply what ayurvedic massage is like.
After being at the Chopra Center for 10 years surrounded by people who had an understanding of the basics (things like vata, pitta, kapha, panchakarma… etc.) it’s a reality check for me to realize most people have never heard of it.
Here’s my take on it:
When I’m working, my intention is to loosen ama (toxic residue that accumulates due to the stress of everyday living, improper diet, negative emotions, and so on). Ama gets stuck in our tissues. It gets stuck everywhere – in muscles, connective tissue, organs, fluids, you name it.
According to ayurvedic philosophy, ama is fat soluble. This is why ayurvedic massages are so oily. We use different kinds of fats (oils) to liquefy the gooey ama that’s stuck in the tissues so it can be eliminated by the body.
Note to the squeamish: do not get an ayurvedic massage if you don’t want to be really oily, from head to toe, and that includes your hair. Don’t wear makeup, and don’t put any “product” on your hair. Contact lenses are fine.
To achieve this, we rub, rub, rub, and rub some more. (It feels fantastic!) We’re trying to get as much oil absorbed into your skin as possible. It’s completely different than a typical Western-style deep tissue massage.
It’s generally quick, repetitive, rhythmic, and hypnotic with lots of long strokes up and down, up and down the muscles and around, around, around the joints. We’re also trying to create friction and heat between our hands and your skin to stimulate your pores into opening up and drinking in the oil.
You know how when you put lotion or sunscreen on your skin, but you’ve put too much on, so you have to keep rubbing and rubbing to get it all to absorb? It’s the same idea.
Does that make sense?
If you take it up a notch and commit to going through the panchakarma process (detoxification and rejuvenation of the body by way of … oh, lots of different methods…) you’ll be getting oily massages every day, along with other kinds of therapies, to keep loosening, liquefying, and moving the ama out of your body.
That kind of intensive therapy day after day for however long you choose to do it can be, well, intense. People think they want to have a massage every day – how luxurious!
But trust me, it’s not always pretty, and you don’t always feel so good when all that gunk is being released. But by the end of panchakarma, you should feel radiant, relaxed and happy. It’s quite an experience – maybe some readers will share their personal stories.
Obviously, each practitioner is going to work a little differently. We all have unique personalities and tendencies, and you have to find the one(s) you like - which could be different therapists on different days.
Some days you just want some love, a little sweetness, and on other days you want someone to scrape the crap off of you (for lack of a better term). Don't feel like you need to be loyal to one therapist or another. We get it. You deserve to have what you want!
